J. L. Terveen Colossians 2
6
divine qualities or characteristics. Adding to this clarification concerning Christs full
divinity Paul further states that this divine plenitude dwells in Christ
("in
bodily form" NIV). Though some prefer to take
here as archetype/reality
over against copy/shadow
18
arguing from the Col. 2:17,19 passage the near context of
2:11-15 with its focus on the death of Jesus points toward a more corporeally oriented
interpretation.
19
"Here, then,
means the corporeality in which God
encounters man in the world in which he lives. It means the full humanity of Jesus, not a
humanity which is a mere cloak for deity."
20
This incarnation, therefore, is no charade.
It is the very fullness of God that lives a truly human life, in a truly human world, in a
truly human person. Further, Christs somatic existence emphatically establishes the
"encounterable reality"
21
of God in the person of Christ. God became relationally
available to mankind in and through the particular human being, Jesus.
It must again be observed that polemics color Pauls thought here, for however
conceived precisely, the elemental forces of the universe (2:8) are by no means to be
considered the repositories in any sense of Gods fullness. Indeed, Paul pursues this line
yet further by stressing that this embodiment of the complete self-revelation of God now
permanently resides in (
)
22
Christ. The verbal aspect of
indicates that
here in 2:9 Pauls christological thought moves beyond the act of incarnation per se
(Jn.1:14), through Christs ministry on earth,
23
and onward to an affirmation of the
permanent post-incarnational bodily (
existence of Christ.
24
In Christ, therefore, the "all-ness" accent of Pauls theological christology takes
singular form. In Christ is a full and unique expression of deity. In Christ alone, not in
the
, God in all his fullness completely and permanently resides.